Their shoes look as if they have walked straight off the pages of a fairytale book and that is exactly what has happened.
Two Maroochydore craftspeople are working to keep a “lost trade” alive with their unique shoe designs.
Inspired by popular medieval festivals and pointed shoes from days gone by, Adrian Lockwood and Jackie Orme Ward, of Pendragon Shoes, have been creating whimsical, custom-made footwear for more than 30 years.
They have even made shoes for blockbuster movies, including Peter Pan and Scooby-Doo, and a collection for Italian Vogue magazine.
Pendragon Shoes featured in the season four premiere of My Way on Channel 9, narrated by radio host and media personality Tim Blackwell.
Jackie said the story of Pendragon came about very organically, when she and long-time friend Adrian decided to sell crafty homemade items at a Brisbane medieval festival in 1987.
“The dress code was to dress medieval and that’s how Pendragon was born,” she said.
“We made ourselves some shoes that were our interpretation of fairy tales and medieval books and that’s what got us going.
“When we originally did the medieval festival, we made a couple of extra pairs and put them on the table and all of a sudden we had people doing medieval re-enactments ordering them and asking us to do them to suit a certain period.
“We just said yes to everything and experimenting and playing around with this new craft and we just got hooked.”
The self-taught shoemakers, who moved to the Sunshine Coast 20 years ago, had no YouTube or websites to hone their skills, relying purely on trial and error as they forged a niche market and gained international attention.
“We were never interested in making ‘normal’ shoes,” Jackie said. “We’ve always tried to be different and have our own niche.
“We actually got to make a pair of shoes for the Scooby-Doo doo movie when Scooby disguised himself as a human and jumps on a plane.
“From there we applied to be involved in more movies and was invited to makes shoes for Peter Pan.
“It was right up our ally, Peter Pan, because we loved all the pirate shoes as well, and the fairy theme. It encompassed a lot of different styles that we specialise in.”
Receive the day’s local news direct to your inbox by subscribing to SCN’s FREE daily news feed. All it requires is your name and email. See SUBSCRIBE at the top of this article
In 2009 Italian Vogue Magazine contacted Pendragon after a stylist Googled ‘period style boots’ and saw their work.
“They sent an emailing asking if we would be interested in making nine pairs of boots to be part of a shoot happening in two weeks’ time with brands like Vivian Westwood and Prada,” Jackie said.
“We said yes and they sent us a mood board of the styles they were doing and then within a couple of days we were frantically creating these boots.
“Then at the last minute they were couriered over to New York for the photo shoot.”
Pendragon has also been called upon by the Queensland Theatre Company on multiple occasions to create shoes for stage productions. They also receive online orders from customers worldwide.
Jackie said the art of shoemaking could take anywhere from one day to a week and involved a process of measuring, designing and making – all with comfort in the front of mind.
“We measure feet, we make them conformable – comfort is really important to us, and good quality materials.
“Summer sandals take a few hours with more elaborate boots taking up to four days and more elaborate shoes taking anywhere up to a week.
“Our boots are quite elaborate, so we spend hours decorating the leather or patchworking before it’s even ready to sew up, much like a tailor working on a suit.”
Having learnt so much over the years, Jackie and Adrian are passionate about sharing their knowledge of the bygone artform to others through shoemaking workshops.
“We try to be really generous with our knowledge because it was so hard for us to get any help in the beginning.
“People are really into learning lost trades. People are getting back into handmaking and wondering how things are put together and slow fashion, you know, less of a throwaway product.”
Pendragon Shoes will be part of Open Studios Sunshine Coast happening, which runs from March 18 to 27.
Visit: pendragonshoes.com.
My Way is in its fourth season and airs Sundays at 5.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now. Narrated by radio host and media personality Tim Blackwell, it is set to showcase more Sunshine Coast people in coming weeks. To check it out, go to 9now.nine.com.au/my-way
